Apparatus for producing yarn sliver



Dec. 20, 1960 H. B. RIEHL ETAL 2,964,801

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING YARN SLIVER Filed Jan. 9, 1956 v 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 20, 1960 H. B. RIEHL ETAL APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING YARN SLIVER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 9, 1956 Dec. 20, 1960 H. B. RIEHL ET AL APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING YARN SLIVER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 9, 1956 Harm d5. Hie/J United States Patent APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING YARN SLIVER Harmon B. Riehl, Blue Bell, and Edward M. Hyde,

Lafayette Hill, Pa., assignors to The Proctor-Srlex Corporation, a corporation of Connecticut Filed Jan. 9, 1956, Ser. No. 558,017

4 Claims. (Cl. 1965) 'The present invention relates to apparatus for producing yarn from bast fibers and more particularly to apparatus for continuous production of a plurality of jute slivers -in a carding set.

The practice generally followed heretofore in the preparation of bast yarns such as jute was either one of two systems; namely, the Dollop system or the Balling system. The systems differ only in the manner in which the fibers are handled and the number of processing steps required -between the raw jute stricks (i.e., the fibers in a form .ready for drawing into sliver form) and the spun yarn.

In the Dollop system, preselected quantities of stock, called dollops, are fed at timed intervals to the continuously moving feed apron of a conventional jute breaker card. The breaker card in turn, delivers a single sliver five inches wide and having a thickness suflieient to produce the required sliver weight per lineal foot. The slivers are deposited in a conventional jute card can in coiled relationship, and the cans are then manually transported from the delivery end of the breaker card to the feed end of the finisher card where the slivers are positioned longitudinally in laterally abutting parallel relation across the width of the finisher card feed apron. The number of slivers so arranged varies from to depending upon the width of the finisher card. The conventional jute finisher card in turn delivers one five inch wide sliver, which is thereafter doubled and drawn, formed into roving, and spun into yarn. To increase production, jute finisher cards have been placed on the market which deliver up to eight slivers. As pointed out more fully hereinafter, the conventional cards are not entirely satisfactory.

In the Balling system, five inch wide slivers preferably of the same weight per lineal increment are formed and deposited in coiled relationship in conventional jute card cans. The filled cans are then transported to the feed end of a Balling machine where three cans are set up, and the slivers from the cans are wound concurrently side by side into laps, each containing, for example, 100 yards of a five inch Wide sliver. A set of three laps may weigh from 180 to 220 pounds. The individual laps comprising the set are rarely of equal weight and may vary in weight considerably. The set of laps is then manually transported in hand trucks to a different building in which the preparing department is housed. The preparing department comprises a plurality of finisher cards, drawing frames, roving frames and spinning frames. A plurality of sets of laps are loaded in a creel mounted at the feed end of a finisher card. The laps are positioned in laterally abutting parallel relationship transversely across the width of the finisher card feed apron. The conventional jute finisher card delivers one five inch wide sliver, but as pointed out above, there are types that deliver up to eight slivers to an equal number of jute card coiler cans. The slivers from the cards are then doubled and drawn, formed into roving, and spun into yarn.

It should be noted that the conventional jute cards employ pin-lagged rolls'and cylinders exclusively throughout,

and the stripper rolls are larger than the worker rolls.

2,964,801 Patented Dec. 20, 1960 Both systems have the same fundamental faults. The excessive handling and transportation of laps and slivers accounts for a considerable portion of the total man-hours expended in we manufacture or yarn and lncreases appreciably the hidden costs of the product. Even more serious, nowever, is the HOH-UfllIOl'l'Illly of the nnlsher card sliver. The variation is caused by the fact that each one of the plurality of silvers positioned on the feed apron of the iinisller card diners widely in welgut per lineal foot from the adjacent slivers. "lhus, there exists a large variation in the weight per lineal foot of stock transversely and longitudinally of the finisher card feed table, the variation manifesting itself in non-uniformity of the slivers delivered by the finisher card. The variation is more pronounced when a plurallty of slivers is delivered by the finisher card, since when the finisher card delivers a plurality of slivers, the transverse variation between adjacent slivers at the feed end of the machine is not compensated for.

In order to produce spun yarns that are qualitatively acceptable as to uniformity of weight per unit length, the slivers made as hereinbefore described, require a large number of doublings during the drawing operations to reduce the variation to within the desired limits. The additional processing increases the cost of the product, and increases the possibility of fiber fracture which decreases the quality of the yarn and increases the difliculties to be encountered in the subsequent spinning operation.

With the foregoing in mind, a primary object of the present invention is to provide novel means whereby the number of steps necessary to form the raw fiber into quality yarn is reduced to a minimum.

Another object of the present invention is to provide novel means for the continuous processing of jute fiber into a plurality of slivers simultaneously.

All of the objects of the present invention and the various features and details of the operation and construction thereof are hereinafter more fully set forth and described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figs. la and 1b when placed end to end comprise a schematic elevational view of a jute carding unit made in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1a;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1a;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the pin-lagged surface of the main cylinders;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the metallicwire clothed surface of other cylinders;

Fig. 6 is an elevational view, partly in section of the web formers and calender rolls at the delivery end of the apparatus;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of the apparatus shown in Figs. 6 and 7; and,

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view of the portion of the apparatus showing the feed rolls, the lickeriu, the main cylinder, and the workers and strippers.

The invention contemplates a carding set having a weighing feed mechanism to feed a breaker card, intermediate feedmechanism to transport the lap delivered from the breaker card to the input of a finisher card, and can coilers for receiving the finished sliver from the finisher card. The sliver delivered from the finisher card is qualitatively suitable for spinning into jute yarn without the necessity for repeated doublings and drafts of the sliver.

The method of the present invention provides accurate control of the material throughout the apparatus to insure uniformity of sliver weight at the delivery end of the apparatus. To provide initial control, the appa ratus at its feed end comprises a weighing type card feed 1 which has a greater capacity and a more rugged construction than the conventional type used for card feeding. The stock to be processed into sliver is deposited in the hopper of the feed 1, where it is moved in a forward direction by a hopper apron 2 into contact with a vertically moving spike apron 3. The apron 3 carries the stock upwardly, passing under an oscillating hopper comb 4 which combs surplus stock from the apron 3 and at the same time, accomplishes a degree of opening of the stock. The stock remaining on the apron beyond the hopper comb 4 is removed from the apron by the action of a doffing means 5, preferably an oscillating comb. The stock is dotted from the spike apron at a substantially uniform rate and is deposited in a weighing receptacle 6.

The stock received in the receptacle 6 is deposited on a feed apron 8 of the breaker card 7. To this end, at predetermined timed intervals in which the scale receptacle 6 is loaded with the desired weight of stock, the doors of the weighing receptacle are opened thereby depositing the stock upon the feed apron 8. The opening and closing of the scale pan doors are accomplished by means of levers actuated by a timing cam in the conventional manner. Through this means the weighing feed delivers to the apron 8 weighed quantities of stock at predetermined timed intervals. The gaps between successive weighed quantities of stock deposited on the feed apron 8 are closed by means of a push board 8a, thus forming a continuous layer of stock on the apron 8.

The apron 8 conveys the stock into a pair of metallicwire clothed feed rolls 9 and 10 of the breaker card 7. The points of the wire of these rolls such as shown in Fig. 5, point in the direction opposite to rotation thereof (see Fig. 9) and mesh with one another to maintain a firm grip on the stock, and advance the same to the lickerin 11 of the card 7. The lickerin is metallic-wire clothed, and the points of the clothing comb increments of stock from the mass of fibers presented by the feed rolls 9 and 10. The lickerin 11 rotates in a clockwise direction and the points of the metallic wire clothing point in the direction of rotation as indicated in Fig. 9. The stock is conveyed approximately 180 degrees on the lickerin 11 where it is stripped from the lickerin 11 by the pin-lagged main cylinder 12 of the breaker card 7. As shown in Figs. 4 and 9, the pins on the main cylinder 12 point in the direction of rotation, in the present instance, counter-clockwise, but for some grades of jute, it is preferred to clothe the main cylinder with metallic wire such as shown in Fig. 5. The surface speed of the main cylinder 12 is greatly in excess of that of the lickerin 11, and since the action of the cylinder clothing is point-to-back of the clothing, the main cylinder 12 strips the fibers carried by the lickerin 11. The stock is entrained on the points of the pins of the main cylinder 12 and is conveyed by the cylinder 12 in a counter-clockwise direction for approximately 120 degrees of rotation to the first carding point at the bight between the main cylinder 12 and the first worker roll 14. The workers 14 of the card 7 are metallic-wire clothed, and are set to provide a predetermined clearance between the pins on the main cylinder and the clothing. The workers are driven at a surface speed slower than the main cylinder, so that the mass of fibers on the cylinder projecting over the clearance between the two cylinders becomes impinged on the metallic wire clothing of the worker roll 14 which has points opposite the direction of rotation thereof. The stock on the worker 14 is carried through approximately 270 degrees at which point it is stripped from the worker roll 14 by the action of a stripper roll 13. The stripper rotates in a clockwise direction and the metallic wire clothing points in the direction of rotation. The surface speed of the stripper roll '13 exceeds that of the worker roll by a ratio of at least two to one, and is less than that of the main cylinder, whereby the stripper redeposits the stock on the main cylinder with the fibers partially disposed in a parallel array and opened up to a greater degree.

In the present embodiment of the invention, the worker rolls and the stripper rolls are all of the same diameter. Thus, the worker and stripper rolls may be similarly clothed and are interchangeable by reversing the mounting. In this way, the number of spare parts that must be carried in supply in the plant is substantially reduced.

As pointed out above, the stock removed from the main cylinder 12 by the worker roll 14 is redeposited on the main cylinder 12 by the stripper. Since there is a fresh supply of stock on the main cylinder, the stocks are combined and if the height of stock on the cylinder is more than the clearance between the main cylinder 12 and the worker roll 14, the carding action is repeated. In the meantime, a portion of the stock is carried by the main cylinder to a second carding point where the stock is carded by a worker roll 16 and stripper roll 15. The setting between the worker roll 16 and the main cylinder 12 provides a clearance at least as small and preferably smaller than the clearance between the worker roll 14 and the main cylinder 12. Hence, more carding is done by the worker 16 and stripper 15 than by the worker 14 and stripper 13. The fibers of the stock are thus partially opened and disposedin parallel array beyond the second carding point. The carded stock is removed from the main cylinder 12 by a dofler 17 having metallic wire clothing similar to the clothing on the lickerin. However, the doffer rotates in a clockwise direction and the metallic wire clothing points in the direction opposite to that of rotation. The surface speed of the main cylinder exceeds that of the doffer by a ratio of 19 to 1, and the dofler and the main cylinder are of the same diameter.

The dofi'er is equipped with web splitting means, and the web formed by the doffer is divided into three bands, each band being one-third the width of the doffer. The split webs are removed from the dotfer by the action of a conventional doffer comb l8 and are deposited on a delivery apron 20 of an intermediate feed device 26, preferably of the design disclosed in the patent of W. F. Bokum, No. 2,713,182. Three web guiding means 21 are positioned subjacent to the delivery apron 21) at equally spaced intervals across its width. The guides 21 change the direction of travel of the three narrow bands of web from the longitudinal direction on the apron 20 to a transverse direction on an apron 22. At the same time, due to their positioning and configuration, the guides 21 superimpose one web band upon the other, forming on the apron 22 a composite multi-layer lap three bands in depth, and having the width of a single narrow web, namely, one-third the width of dofier 17. The guides thus effect a doubling of the webs to provide a higher degree of uniformity.

The composite lap is conveyed transversely in a rearward direction by the ,bottom horizontal conveyor apron 22 until the multi-layer lap is brought intermediate a pair of vertically positioned lattice type conveyor aprons 23, 23. The composite lap is conveyed upwardly between the two conveyor aprons 23 and is deposited on a top horizontal conveyor apron 24 which conveys the composite lap transversely in a forward direction. The composite lap is then passed between a pair of downwardly travelling traverse aprons 25, 25 which travel back and forth transversely over the width of the finisher card feed apron 27 travelling in a longitudinal direction. Since the rate of travel of the traverse aprons 25, 25 in a transverse direction is substantially greater than the rate of travel of the feed apron 27, the composite lap is laid upon the feed apron 27 in laminar disposition, for example as shown in Fig. 3, each layer deposited, having a thickness of three bands. Thus, a further doubling of the'stockdsy effected and even greaten uniformity. is achieved. I t Y The cross laying of the compositelapforms a multilayer lap extending the width of finisher card feed' apron 27 -1-Thl15, a continuous lap of uniform thickness ina lateral direction as well as in the transverse direction is fed to the finisher card. The finisher card further, blends and parallels the fiber without adversely affecting the uniformity of, the material. Therefore, the slivers ,delivered by the finisher card have the same weight transversely and will .also have uniformweight in a longitudinal direction. v,

The finisher card in the present invention iss'imila'r in construction to the breaker card, with the exceptions that it is wider, and may be more finely clothed. The lap from the conveyor 27 is advanced between wireclothed feed rolls 28 and 29 which form a web which is deposited on the lickerin 30. The web on the lickerin 30 is stripped by the main cylinder 31 and is carded at successive carding stations by workers 32 and strippers 33. The carded web is then doifed from the main cylinder 31 by the dofier 35 which is formed with web-splitting devices to divide the web into at least eight and preferably twelve equal-width narrow bands. The bands are stripped by a dofier comb 36 and pass over guide means 39 into trumpets 40. The trumpets 40 condense the narrow webs into slivers which are drawn or advanced by draw or squeeze rolls 41, 41.

In accordance with the present invention, the draw rolls 41, 41 are specially form-ed to handle the jute sliver. The carded jute sliver not infrequently contains pieces of unopened bark embedded therein. The presence of the bark in the sliver makes the use of conventional draw rolls unsatisfactory, since the bark spreads the rolls and causes the adjacent rolls to lose their grip on the sliver. As a result, the sliver is not properly drawn through the adjacent rolls and large masses of the sliver accumulate, causing the trumpets to choke. When this occurs, the conventional card must be shut down to clear the trumpets. The draw rolls of the present invention eliminates the possibility of choking of the trumpets by providing resilient rolls which will satisfactorily pass the pieces of unopened bark without adversely affecting the bight of the other rolls mounted on the same shaft.

In accordance with the invention, the draw rolls 41, 41 are mounted on counter-rotating shafts 42, 42. Each roll comprises a steel core 43 and a case-hardened shell 44. The shell 44 is preferably fluted, as indicated in Fig. 6. The shell is maintained in the spaced relation to the core, 43 by a plurality of radially compressible disks 45, in the present instance formed of rubber. The disks permit the shells 44 to be displaced relative to the shaft 42 without deflecting the shaft, or affecting the gripping ability of the rolls 41 adjacent thereto. The compressible disks are held in place by a suitable end plate 46. Thus, the present invention provides means for mounting on a common shaft a plurality of rolls which are, in effect, biased into contact with the cooperating roll, but which may be displaced therefrom to afford passage of pieces of unopened bark.

The slivers discharged by the rolls 41, 41 are advanced by a conveyor 48 into the can coilers 50, each sliver being directed into a single can coiler. The slivers in the can coiler are qualitatively suitable for spinning directly into yarn in the conventional manner.

In the present embodiment of the invention, it is preferred to have a delivery rate of approximately 127 feet per minute at the doffer. At this surface speed, it is difficult to manually insert each one of the 12 narrow web hands into the individual trumpets 41 when first starting up the cards. A drive, such as described in the copending application of John W. Powischill, Serial No.

539,063, now US. Patent No. 2,840,859, may be provided in which the doifer speed and the feeding speed of the two card sections may be reduced by means of electricaliy controlled variable speed, drives to the point where the slivers: may beeasilyfiiis erted in the trumpets. Thedr ive affords a reduction in the'delivery rate Without affecting the weight and uniformityjof the'indiyidual slivers. When the slivers have been inserted in thetrunrpets of the can oilers, the doffer and feed speeds of both the breaker card and the finisher card may bereadily' returned to the normal operating speeds.

Thus, the present invention providesa carding system for jute, andlike bast fibers which is capable of receiving'the stock! in bulk form and forming the same into slivers qualitatively suitable for spinning directly into yarn.

While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been herein illustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the invention to such disclosures, but changes and modifications may be made therein and thereto within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. In apparatus for processing fibrous materials and forming the same into sliver; a first carding machine for blending and paralleling the fibres and operable to form the same into a web; means to split said web into a plurality of narrow bands; an intermediate feed device comprising a first conveyor, guide means to superimpose said plurality of bands upon one another on said first conveyor to form a uniform composite multi-layer lap, a second conveyor to receive said lap, and means depositing said multi-layer lap transversely on said second conveyor in overlapping runs; feed rolls to receive said overlapping runs of multi-layer lap and form a highly uniform web; a second carding machine to receive the web from said feed rolls and operable to blend and parallel the fibres thereof to form a web of uniform thickness and density both transversely and longitudinally thereof; means to split said web into at least eight equal-width bands of uniform thickness and density; trumpet means coextensive in width with and positioned immediately adjacent said last-mentioned web-splitting means to condense the bands into slivers comprising a hollow inverted conical surface for each band; and a pair of squeeze rolls having their nip disposed in registry with the lower terminus of each of said conical surfaces to receive the condensed band therefrom, said squeeze rolls each comprising a rigid shaft rotatably mounted adjacent said surfaces, a hollow cylindrical shell surrounding said shaft in spaced relation thereto, and resilient means mounting said shell on said shaft.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resilient mounting means comprises a plurality of radially compressible annular disks supported on said shaft at their inner periphery and supporting said shell at their outer periphery.

3. In apparatus for processing fibrous materials and forming the same into a web, means to feed said material into a carding machine, a carding machine for opening and paralleling the fibres to form the same into a web, means to split said web into a plurality of narrow bands, means to superimpose said bands upon each other to form a composite multi-layer lap, means to double said multi-layer lap and form the same into a continuous lap of uniform thickness and density in the longitudinal and transverse directions, a second carding machine to receive the doubled lap to open and parallel the fibres thereof and form the same into a web, a pair of counterdirectionally rotating shafts disposed coextensive in Width with said second carding machine and positioned adjacent thereto, and at least one pair of draw rolls to receive said web, means intermediate said draw rolls and said second carding machine to support the web therebetween, each roll comprising a rigid core member mounted for rotation with one of said shafts, a cylindrical shell coaxial with said core member in spaced relation thereto, and a plurality of compressible annular disks mounted at their inner periphery on said core, and mount- 7 ing" at their outer periphery said cylindrical shell; said disks being resilient and affordingradial displacement of said shell eccentric to said core. 4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said cylindrical shell is case-hardened and is fluted on its outer 5 surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 404,106 Palmer May 28, 1889 790,060 Jefferson May 16, 1905 866,364 Hutchins Sept. 17, 1907 8 Curtin Dec. 29, 1925 Allen et al Apr. 26, 1938 Cavedon Apr. l, 1941 Hollerung et al. Apr. 15, 1941 Senior et al. Jan. 12, 1954 Sandelin, July 13, 1954 Abrants Sept. 28, 1954 Bokum July 19, 1955 Deroover Oct. 25, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Mar. 27, 1939 

